PT Pintcast - Physical Therapy

To begin APTA’s Centennial Year, APTA will open a new headquarters, the APTA Centennial Center. Watch live on Facebook on January 15 for APTA’s Centennial Cutting Ribbon Ceremony.

Tracie Harris is the marketing director at APTA who worked with Fitwel to create a healthier work environment. Joanna Frank is the President & CEO for the Center of Active Design who is the operator of the Fitwel building certification. 

Fitwel was created by the CDC to provide building certifications to support healthier workplace environments to help improve occupant health and productivity. The Fitwel team assesses projects against seven health impact categories.

This call to action to create a healthier work environment allows APTA to directly tie to their mission and vision - APTA mission “improving the health of society” and vision “to optimize movement.” 

What are fun facts behind a healthy environment? 

* If you see the stair, you’re actually 50% more likely to take the stair just because you see it.* 6 flights of stairs a day is enough to offset the average annual weight gain of an American. 

PARTING SHOT

39:44 “Stop by 3030 Potomac Avenue, the APTA Centennial Center.” - Tracie Harris

40:13 “Your physical environment has as much impact on your health as your genetic code” - Joanna Frank

Jaime Mor is a performance physical therapist and certified athletic trainer at EXOS with a passion for movement and body mind connection. He has been in the sports medicine field for 7 years.

Jaime defines a performance physical therapist as treating and preparing the elite athlete to their peak optimal level.

Each year, Jaime works with the athletes that participate in the NFL Combine – a weeklong competition of prospects to be drafted to the NFL. As a PT, he prepares the athletes 8 weeks ahead by either treating impairments or improving the performance of tasks required.

He recommends a PT, PTA, or student interested in this field to have a performance clinical rotation and reach out to professionals to gain experience and learn about performance.

QUOTES

“Don’t be uncomfortable making random connections.” – JAIME

“Find out the people you want to learn from and learn from them.” – JAIME

PARTING SHOT

“Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Reach out to people and find your own mentors. Find people you wish to learn from. From a clinical side, don’t neglect the basics. ” – JAIME

Social Justice Lessons from Roger Williams by Dr. Lisa VanHoose

Keynote Presentation at the Northeast Regional Virtual Annual Conference 

Michelle Collie is CEO of Performance Physical Therapy and APTA President of Rhode Island introduces keynote speaker Lisa VanHoose. During the conference, Michelle will be speaking on the “Telehealth Panel: The Role of Telehealth in the Future of Our Profession.”

Lisa VanHoose is an Associate Professor and Program Director in the Physical Therapy Department at the University of Louisiana Monroe. She speaks on “Social Injustice Lessons We Learn from Roger Williams.” 

She focuses on the “Five Principles of Social Injustice” by Roger Williams

* Access* Equity* Diversity * Participation* Human Rights 

Mic Drop

“If you know better, do better.” – Lisa VanHoose

Kadeem Howell is a physical therapist who has developed a growth mindset. He focuses on the positives as a furloughed PT during COVID and earns extra money with side hustles. 

His pursuit for keeping a strong mindset started at a young athlete which eventually led him to choose physical therapy as a career. His first job as a PT was with the Buffalo Bills because he maintained his mindset.

Kadeem believes there are multiple solutions for one problem. Being furloughed as a PT, he not only earned extra money but increased in a variety of skills. Look at all the possibilities you can do AS A PT to earn additional money:

·        Car flipping

·        E-bay flipping

·        Day trading

·        Dividend stocks

·        Rental real estate

·        Affiliate marketer for courses and amazon products

·        E-comm drop shipping for PT products

The theme throughout this chat is building relationships to increase trust with either people in your profession, patients, or customers.  

QUOTES

“If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere… If there is a will, there is a way.” – KADEEM

“’Don’t listen to what I say, watch what I do.’ – Gary Vee”  – JIMMY

“Empathy and sympathy are two different things but they are important to recognize the differences.” – JIMMY

“The solution will always outweigh the problems… The solutions are limitless.” – KADEEM

“If you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will.” – KADEEM

PARTING SHOT

“You are not your profession. It’s up to you if you want to be.” – KADEEM

Steve Gleason was given the Congressional Gold Medal, and that is a big deal.

We get to hear Steve accept his award in his own words, in his own voice. And that is a major reason that he’s being given this award.

Steve created and pushed through the Steve Gleason Enduring Voices act which made sure that persons with degenerative diseases would have access to Speech Generating Devices. Quite literally making sure that people living with ALS and other diseases never lose their voice.

Only 163 people in American history have been given this award and Steve is the first former NFL player to receive it. You might know him as a former football player that blocked a punt against the Falcons, but the reason you get a medal like this is because you put your head down and focus on a singular vision. And Steve and his team have done just that making sure persons with living with ALS and their families lead productive and purposeful lives.

Drew Brees spoke about is friend and former teammate at the ceremony in Washington D.C. Drew’s message was about watching Steve turn tragedy into triumph on the field, but most importantly off of the field.

If you hear this and are moved by his words and his Team we ask you to do all or some fo these three things:

1 – Donate to his organization @ TeamGleason.org

2 – Watch his Documentary, “Gleason.” It’s on Amazon and if you have prime it’s FREE!

3 – Follow them on social media to see and maybe join their TEAM helping those with ALS and their families live better lives.

On Instagram: @TeamGleason

On Twitter: @TeamGleason

“Finding ways to make life meaningful and purposeful and rewarding, doing the activities that you love and spending time with the people that you love – I think that’s the meaning of this human experience.” -SG

Drew Contreras is a retired Lieutenant colonel US Army physical therapist, former White House PT to the 44th POTUS, and VP of the Federal Section of the APTA.

Drews tells his story on deciding physical therapy as a career and becoming a federal/Army PT. He served for 21 years in the US Army as a physical therapist.

He gives the comparison of his experience as a US Army PT compared to civilian PTs. He refers to himself as a “physician extender” with increased autonomy in the Army.

During the Obama presidency, increased physical therapy services were needed. With Drew’s experience in the Army and conveniently located working in the Pentagon, he was called to perform for the White House. Drew was the in-house PT for the Obama administration for 7 years.

Drew dives into federal physical therapy and how PTs can make a difference on the federal level. If interested in federal physical therapy, check out the Federal Section of the ATPA here: https://federalpt.org/

Drew discusses the increased need for physical therapy in the military and he sees the future of PTs traveling with their assigned units.

QUOTES 

“I always try to treat all my military patients the same regardless of rank.” – DREW

“Nothing is a problem until it is a problem.” – DREW

“To have them (the government) say we want a physical therapist with every functional unit. That is pretty validating for our profession.” – JIMMY

“People expect a certain level of performance out of you or a certain level of capability. You should be able to deliver that.” – DREW

PARTING SHOT

“You can do whatever you want on your last day.” – DREW

Will Humphreys is a physical therapist, entrepreneur, author, and speaker. Will coaches business owners and physical therapists across the country to his knowledge and belief of profitability. If you thought that was all, Will created a medical billing and consulting company called In the Black this past April.

Will tells us about the events he endured to ultimately choose his path in physical therapy and becoming a physical therapist.

Will goes further in how his past has shaped who he is today and describes the entrepreneur’s mindset: learn, endure, and lead. He discusses the difficulty starting his company Rise Rehab back in 2003 but mentions that even though that was the most difficult situation he had to endure, it is possible with work. In 2018, Rise merged with now Empower Physical Therapy.

He gives us a clear understanding on what “profitability unlocks possibility” means and how this benefits the entrepreneur and current physical therapists.

One topic Will coaches about is the 5 Pillars of Profitability:

1.       Reliability and transparency

2.       Consistency

3.       Efficiency

4.       Stability

5.       Predictability

Will has created a YouTube channel to assist business owners, PTs, new graduates, and students on success in our industry. Take a listen here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd9MwDrfXzXbDjnEqRCW8wA

Will describes to us the Core Four (heart, mind, body, spirit) and how he believes working on yourself everyday leads to success.

Rupal Patel is a physical therapist and professor at Texas Woman’s University. Lisa VanHoose is the physical therapy program director at the University of Louisiana Monroe and owner of the Ujima Institute. Zachary Rethorn is a Faculty Development Resident at Duke University, owns his own telehealth practice called Rethorn Physical Therapy and Practice and current PhD Student in health promotion and wellness.

Rupal, Lisa, and Zachary spoke together at CSM in Denver on their presentation “Better Together in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Engaging Diverse Populations to Improve Rehabilitation Outcomes.”

To breakdown DEI, diversity are all the components that create a person. Equity is those opportunities or objects that become fit for an individual. Inclusion is welcoming the diversity of others.

Discussing public health issues, these begin to include people with disabilities, lower literacy, language barriers, and communities with minimal opportunities. The communities that integrate DEI into their culture demonstrate less gap between high-income and low-income individuals.

There are different factors that affect health – 40-50% of health is related to our social context and environment. Healthcare and access to healthcare is at most 20% of health. Our health behaviors make up the rest of the 30-40%.

The panel believes clinical practice will begin to shift by diving deeper into a patient’s social environment as health begins in those social contexts. The biggest barrier is starting the conversation. Someone’s own self efficacy and self-confidence can get in the way of addressing the sensitive issues of our patients.

The Health Leads Social Needs Screening Toolkit helps clinicians to take those steps to understand a patient’s social needs. The AAFP has a Neighborhood Navigator Tool and the website findhelp.org are great ways to connect patients with supportive resources in their community.

To improve physical therapy outcomes, looking “upstream” means to consider other factors that could be contributing to a patient’s health rather than solely looking at the condition or chief complaint. Check this TED Talk about upstream medicine and how upstreaming can improve your patient’s outcomes.

QUOTES

11:43 “Voting rights are a public health issue.” – RUPAL

16:22 “So everyone brings diversity into a room with them. It’s just whether or not we recognize it.” – LISA

19:23 “An inclusive group by definition can be diverse, but a diverse group is not always inclusive.” – RUPAL

23:02 “Why do we treat people and then send them back to the very condition that made them sick.” – ZACHARY

27:45 “The folks that have had enough, they don’t need to listen. I think there are plenty of folks who want to listen and learn.” – RUPAL

Mike Morrison is a former web designer turned PhD student in Work Psychology using design and psychology backgrounds to share knowledge.

Mike defines the user experience (UX) in common web designs today and how UX makes consuming information faster and more efficient in websites or presentations.

With his background in web design, Mike created Twister Poster and Better Poster to improve the way information is presented. Check them out here:

·        Twitter poster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQDL8r3r_d4

·        Better poster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RwJbhkCA58&t=3s

He describes what is included in the Better Poster and how it compares to other posters usually seen at conferences. He talks about the importance of catching attention and emotion with your poster design.

He explains how to create a Twitter Poster and found this design to be more eye catching to the consumer versus a link or graphic.

Mike breaks down what information foraging theory is and why it is important to engage your audience with little effort.

Mike believes there is not a better time then to start and apply UX than during COVID. With the rise in virtual events and increase in technology use, it is time to improve the presentation of your information and make presenting easier.

QUOTES

41:12 “If something is hard to use, people don’t use it very much” – MIKE

30:10 “Everything that gets in someone’s brain before they ask you a question about your research will make them ask deeper and better questions.” – MIKE

23:14 “If you cared about the learning experience, you would use color to stimulate emotion that is relevant to your study.” – MIKE  

16:12 “To make something engaging, you have to make it more interesting than it is effort.” – MIKE

12:48 “The strongest information that you can present is getting right to the point” – MIKE

PARTING SHOT

1:38 “You have to stop being frustrated with people for being lazy and start loving people for being lazy” – MIKE

Johnny Owens and Larry Cahalin are collaborating on a Blood Flow Restriction component that we dive into. Johnny sticks around the show to talk about Project 11 – a feature on ESPN documenting the injury and recovery of the Washington Redskins Quarterback Alex Smith. The feature is hosted by physical therapist and ESPN head injury analyst Stephanie Bell. Johnny was part of the recovery team for Alex, along with another former guest of PT Pintcast Seth Blee.